Art is autonomous. This statement is a cardinal definition of Modern art, and as theorem and challenge it dictates the discourse of the fine arts. The discussion of art’s autonomy excludes functionality. Ludger Gerdes, in his artistic and theoretical work, focuses on the widely diverging concepts of autonomy. In his text “Autonomie, Formalismus und moderne Kunst” (Autonomy, formalism, and Modern art) published in 1990, Gerdes asks what the “specific characteristic” of art might be: “. . .the strict, radically autonomous artwork is aloof from content. . . .A rigorously autonomous art concentrates